Canned food, crackers, MREs, beer—it's all fun to eat for a little while when the power's out. Eventually, though, you want actual meals to eat, and that's when you'll be glad you found Chef 5 Minute Meals.

As posted at Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools blog, Chef 5 Minute Meals are far more ambitious in their flavors than other self-heating foods, like military-style Meals Ready to Eat (MRE). They have a "patented water activated heating pad in every box," and use the box as a kind of makeshift oven. Cool Tools writer Joe Stirt describes the process:

The box starts to puff up

Steam starts pouring out

Sounds - amazing sounds - emanate from the box

The smell of cooking food pervades the immediate vicinity

You open the box and peel back the plastic lid and darned if your chicken cacciatore isn't all piping hot and smelling scrumdiddlyumptious - tastes great too!

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Many of the meal types are available as Amazon Prime purchases, with a direct link available at the Cool Tools post.